FUEL PRICE RISE * USA - Bus ridership grows
It was not so long ago that it cost $20 or $25 to fill a car’s tank. With gasoline prices well over $3 today, that bill has doubled
Bangor,MAI,USA -The Bangor Daily News, by Steve Colhoun -March 22, 2008: -- ... In response, bus companies in Down East Maine have increased their routes and ridership to give travelers an affordable option... While much of the service of surface transportation firms in Hancock and Washington counties has always been devoted to schools, buses are not just for kids anymore. Funded by an array of federal, state and community grants in addition to riders’ fares, buses now carry individuals from Bangor to Ellsworth, Bar Harbor and even Calais for work, medical appointments and routine visits... The transportation service of WHCA in Ellsworth arranges transportation for MaineCare patients from Calais to Bangor and, when necessary, to hospitals in Portland and Boston, according to director Linda Belfiore. WHCA’s "demand response" service, which has seen an increase of 20 percent a year over the past several years, carries patients by one of its four buses when possible, but also contracts with other companies, such as Downeast Transportation and West Bus Service, for some trips. WHCA also depends on volunteers at times and has a "friends and family" program under which drivers are reimbursed between 22 and 44 cents a mile... (Photo by Kate Collins/Bangor Daily News: Bob Johnson, a bus driver with Downeast Transportation, helps passenger Grace Sinclair carry her bags to the door of her Ellsworth home after she did some shopping downtown on Thursday, February 14, 2008. Johnson is a regular passenger on the downtown bus)* Bus ridership up with rising gas prices
Barre,VT,USA -The Boston Globe (Boston,MASS) -March 23, 2008: -- To offset the high price at the pump, more Vermonters are taking public transportation and cutting back on travel... The price of unleaded gas reached an average of $3.26 per gallon on Friday, according to VermontGasPrices.com... That's 10 cents more than last month, and 46 cents more than last year. Five years ago, gas cost half that much... The increase has prompted some Vermonters to take the bus...
* Rising diesel costs leave some schools struggling to run buses
Chattanooga,Tenn,USA -AP/Daily News Journal (subscription - Murfreesboro,TN,USA) -23 March 2008: -- The rising cost of diesel fuel has some school systems in Tennessee scrambling to find the money to keep their buses running... Officials with Rhea County schools in East Tennessee said they may have to ask the state for help because their budget is so tight... And school leaders in Cleveland are diverting spending to keep fuel for their fleet, which is 100 percent diesel... Spring City Rep. Jim Cobb, a Republican, has described the situation as a building crisis... That’s an assessment Rhea County Board of Education chairman Bill Davault agrees with. He says diesel costs are going to put the county in the hole before the end of the year...
Labels: gas prices
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